Tareq and Michaele Salahi have a new reason for ducking questions. Not merely a pleading-the-Fifth thing, as when Congress subpoenaed them after the White House state-dinner-crashing. Now that they're about to be TV stars -- on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of D.C." -- it's a no-spoilers thing.

What did producers know about the crashing, and when did they know it? Why does Bravo PR describe the Salahis' shuttered winery as a thriving business? And other questions were dodged as the Salahis played featured guests Thursday at a "Q&A Cafe" luncheon at the Georgetown Ritz-Carlton.

"There are some things in the show, in upcoming episodes, we can't talk about," Tareq told the sold-out crowd. Said his wife: "You have to watch and see what happens."

Walking into the luncheon was like stepping into a reality show -- not just because of all the cameras (none of them Bravo's, actually), but the tension between the Salahis and host Carol Joynt, the feeling a table could get flipped at any moment, and that all were enjoying the drama.

Joynt, in recent days, had conducted a reality show of her own on her blog, airing her hesitations and confusions over whether the Salahis would show up. PR folks were whispering that, oooh, the other Housewives had bypassed this event for another party we should check out a mile away. And much of the ladies-who-lunch audience seemed gripped by the illusion that they were watching a TV show from home, their wisecracks just a little too loud.

It started off friendly. Joynt asked if the Salahis needed Bravo's permission to speak: "Bravo needs you more than you need them," she cooed. Michaele said they'd accepted Joynt's invitation because "there's no better person in the community more respected than you." Producers first approached her, she said, in March.2009. "They said, 'You always look very stylish, and you're out on the charity scene in D.C., and you're very well known,'" she said. "I was the first casted."

The smiles quickly turned brittle -- Joynt noting she'd never heard of the Salahis before last year, and Michaele insisting that Joynt had recalled seeing them at a Wolf Trap gala, and Joynt retorting she'd never been to one.

Would the "Housewives" money get the Salahis out of debt? They declined to say. Joynt noted the couple still could be charged in the White House incident: "How would you like to spend time in the D.C. prison system?"

Lawpool -- she IS a blithering idiot. The pampered blond who couldn't tell (let alone know) the truth if her life depended on it and that swine she's married to. Could there possibly be a most unlikely couple? When one ceases to be able to take from the other, divorce will follow. Hey, maybe on their new show?

The Salahi's are part of the "yuck" factor in sleezy American society. Why give credibility to these publicity mongers who are legitimately bankrupt? It is time to move away from the "Entertainment Tonight" style of "fluff" journalism and get back to the hard-core investigative journalism that the WaPo was once famous for.

These people are grifters and liars who have cheated many honest hardworking people. As with all good grifters, they can be charming and entertaining but it is amazing and disheartening that behavior that deserves jail is rewarded with a TV show.

I guess it is the fault of all the people who watch. TV is a for profit business that would give Charles Manson his own show if it would draw good ratings.

How about doing something good for the USA by standing up for values, truth, justice, and the american way by choosing not to watch these clowns?

With low ratings, they will quickly gone from the tube and faced with earning a living the hard way like the rest of us.

Pasted-on smiles and a deer-in-the-headlights look in their eyes. Cubic zirconium masquerading as diamonds. If they didn't play in Peoria, they definitely didn't play in Georgetown. More like a pair of trees in a room full of beavers.

lisag (Michaele) has stopped the random capitalization, due to all of us calling her on being Michaele. So, my question for you Molly is... why did you marry a fat guy up to his eyeballs in debt with no real skills to possibly earn his way out of that debt?!? You are pretty good looking - couldn't you do better? Dumb, yes, but that is not unusual... lots of dumb hot chicks can find a boring, genuinely rich guy (not fake rich like Tareq). Why not leave the multi-chinned clown and find one of them?